2015: The Year of SM #EmployeeEmpowerment and How to Create a Successful Program

As 2015 is shaping up to be the "Year of Employee Empowerment" in social media more and more companies are wondering how they might benefit. 

Social media employee empowerment programs are proving highly successful at brands such as Lenovo, Oracle and Cisco where employees using their own social networks effectively become brand ambassadors.

Increased reach and engagement are just two of the often-cited benefits for brands. But how do you set up an effective employee empowerment program? 

During a recent Brandwatch webinar called Social Monitoring & Gamification: Creating Employee Advocates at Cisco (the slides from the webinar are here) Brandwatch’s product manager Caroline Goodwin outlined one possible approach: 

Raise awareness of the value of social. She said organizations can do this by:

• Putting social up on screens in the workplace where everyone can see social activity around the brand and its products and services.
• Using reports to regularly show employees at various levels what is happening with social efforts and how they help the brand.
• Integrating social facts and figures for the brand with other numbers employees are more comfortable and used to seeing such as sales figures or call numbers. 

Enable your employees by:

• Training them and providing tips and guidelines about what kinds of information can and can’t be shared about and around the brand. Also share how social media efforts are measured.
• Promoting the type of content you’re hoping employees will share, the hashtags your brand prefers and any tips on the ways to share content from the company website.
• Collating all of your employee’s social handles so you can accurately track their efforts. Goodwin says the surprisingly easy way to do this is to "just ask" for each participating employee's social handles.

Encourage healthy competition by:

• Creating a table showing who has the greatest impact (either by using an existing commercially available tool or creating your own measurement) that looks at frequency of sharing, numbers reached, and numbers of responses and re-shares. 

Harness the power of your advocates by:

• Planning ahead, for example, by giving your employees a heads up on an upcoming marketing campaign and share the relevant hashtags and links to the content that will be going out in the near future.
• Monitoring results by tracking specific links and hashtags and who is sharing them and how far they are going. Brands can also keep the momentum going by providing very regular updates to employees during the campaign so everyone feels involved.
• Recognizing all participants once the campaign is over and sharing its success with all. But then also recognize the most successful social media advocates.

So that’s one approach to employee empowerment in social media, what about others? My next post will look at that and provide links to some great thinking around the whole topic.

Related posts
Employee empowerment drives massive social media results for brand 
Social Media Employee Empowerment - What Works

8 Reasons Your Organization MUST Have A Social Media Policy

Social media policies at organizations large and small were, as recently as 2012, quite rare. Like telephone, personal computer and email policies of earlier generations they were put in place to guide everyone in the organization through the use of a new technology.

But just as with those earlier policies some businesses and other organizations held out – refusing to commit the time to develop a policy. And just like those earlier instances some came to regret their tardiness. 

What percentage of businesses worldwide now have policies? According to a 2014 survey by international law firm Proskauer 79 percent of businesses have social media policies … that means 21 percent of businesses have yet to wake up to the need for one.

Some organizations that do have policies have inadequate or outdated policies.

So what should a good, current social media policy do?

8 Musts For a Social Media Policy

1. Explain the new workplace reality: Many, if not most, employees consider their private and work lives separate, but social media has effectively erased that distinction. No matter how “walled-off” an individual’s social accounts may seem to be ultimately someone, somewhere will tie that person to your organization. Therefore they need to understand that this means anything they post on social media or elsewhere online may reflect on them and the company.

2. Protect your organization’s reputation: A good social media policy spells out what is and is not appropriate for employees to post about their company on social networks. Generally, the policy will state that employees shouldn't write anything they wouldn’t want splashed across the public media. This section may include the consequences of posting unflattering information about the organization. It will also remind employees that anything posted online – even posts marked as private – can, and will, be used against them and their employer.

3. Raise awareness of your organization and what it does: The best social media policies have more "dos" than "don’ts. " They have clear guidelines to help employees understand ways they can use social media to help achieve business goals. They also help employees reflect organizational values in their online behavior and explain the best kind of material to share on social media

4. Outline what's considered confidential or private information: Employees appreciate having clear guidelines about what the organization considers public information about its business and its employees. This section will also describe the consequences for sharing company secrets on social media.

5. Spell out who in the organization is the official voice: Employees need to know who they should refer online questions about your organization to, so they don’t answer themselves. This section designates a company spokesperson and the circumstances under which he or she must be the person answering questions on social media.

6. Discuss the proper way to engage with others online: It may seem like stating the obvious but this section reminds employees that they should be polite and agreeable. If they must disagree with someone they should agree to disagree with others on social media because disagreements can quickly blow up and go viral

7. Educate and train employees: Show them what good social media can do for the organization … and the bad. Use real-life examples to show them what happens when people don’t follow the rules and/or don’t use common sense. This is the ounce of prevention that can get them to think before they click.

8. Remove any confusion about legal issues: Clearly spell out which social media use in the workplace is acceptable and which is not. Explain the consequences of deviating from the rules and if that includes the “up to and including termination” language say it here. This is no time for equivocation.

An up-to-date and active social media policy is as essential today as telephone and personal computer policies were in earlier times. Until people have a lot of experience in social media they are going to make mistakes unless they get good guidance ... the kind of guidance social media policies provide.

What do you think? Is the social media policy where you work up to date and effective?

Resources:
From Fast Company: Corporate Social Media Policies: The Good, the Mediocre, and the Ugly
From Fast Company: More Social Media Policies: LA Times, Harvard Law, Microsoft and Cisco
Entrepreneur magazine video hangout: Crafting Your Social Media Policy - What Experts Advise
Free Download: Employee Social Media Policy Template

5 things brands should be doing on Instagram

Instagram, the free photo-sharing application which allows users to share photos and short videos on its own service and across other social media networking services, including Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr and Flickr, has become immensely popular among brands and consumers alike.

The latest statistics reveal 75 million people use it every day while 25 percent of all Fortune 500 brands are active on it, as well.

And while some brands “get it” as to how to best use the platform to benefit their particular brand, some still struggle.

To those struggling to find their way on Instagram, I offer…

5 things brands should be doing on Instagram

1. Monitor Instagram for mentions, because every mention is an opportunity for marketers to engage (see No. 4 below). Since the platform introduced tagging last year (see Instagram Now Lets Anyone Tag You [Or Brands] In Photos….) it is important for brands to see what, or if, they are being tagged. When they are, and presuming it is in a positive image, brands should consider a ….

2. Regram. This is re-sharing others’content that reflects well on your brand, your products or your services and your values. A brand adding re-shares to its own Instagram is building an image-based community – it’s not just the brand’s images but also the fan’s images. To do this you’ll need one of the tools that makes this possible with Instagram. For a list of these tools see How to Repost Instagram Photos.

3. Profile yourself on Instagram. Using the Profile page feature that Instagram added a little over a year ago smart brands now use their collected images as a way to tell their story. This visual storytelling drives interest and possibly regrams of your images by others. To learn more, see  Announcing Instagram Profiles on the Web.

Ben & Jerry's successful Instagram profile

For examples of brands doing Instagram Profiles see Ben & Jerry’s with its 340,000+ followers and the NBA page with its 1.8 million followers. Notice how both use a combination of their own images and videos to tell a behind-the-scenes story and to highlight the content of real fans (see “Regram” above).

4. Engage. This can be by responding to others’ posts on Instagram, the aforementioned Regramming, offering special deals to Instagram followers and running such things as photo contests. The latter is easy to do on Instagram: Ask Instagrammers to follow your brand, give them a topic to photograph and a hashtag to use (so you can easily search for the posts). If you offer a prize or two people will remember your hashtag. Heightened engagement in this way places your brand in the social feeds of others, thereby multiplying your reach. For solid tips on contests see the Instagram blog post How to Host A Photo Contest on Instagram.

5. Feature your customers and employees. What is your brand without these two important groups? Find ways to make stars of your customers and show how they use your products and services and mix in images of your employees on the job or out in the community. This humanization of your brand will feed into the growing desire of all social network users for authenticity. By its nature Instagram images look less polished and more genuine. Displaying your people and your customers in this way will make your brand come alive for viewers.

For a great read on “…brands that are using Instagram in unexpected and creative ways…” see Stay Authentic, Build An Instagram Cult Following: 6 Brands That Get It Right from the The Idea Lists blog.

So, what will your brand do to leverage Instagram on social media marketing? Do you have other ideas? Please share in the Comments section.

NOTE: This post was originally written for the Responsys New School Marketing Blog

Social Media is the answer … partially

A letter to a future client

Dear Prospective Client,

I’m looking forward to our upcoming meeting and excited to hear about your business and its goals. I’m glad to hear that you are anxious to get into Social Media and that you are willing to try a new approaches.

However, before we meet I would like to be sure we’re all on the same page and not going into this meeting with unlikely, implausible or even impossible expectations. I’d like to talk to you about …

5 Things Social Media Can’t Be

1. A magic bullet. While there are many wonderful tools in Social Media that will help you understand and reach out to customers, employees and/or the community none of them individually or collectively will solve ALL of your business problems.

2. A one- or two-string violin. No matter how many Social Media platforms we agree will help you they will still only be a part of your plans moving forward. We will be looking at integrating tactics in Social Media with some of your existing and traditional customer- and employee-relation, sales and marketing methods. Be assured though, this “multi-string” approach WILL make beautiful music.

3. Left to an intern. To get the best results from Social Media someone in your organization (and depending on its size it may be two or more someones) will need to dedicate time to managing Social Media. While a young intern may understand the tools they likely will need a lot of GUIDANCE on their correct use and the strategy you will be using in Social Media.

4. Cheap. It is true that Social Media tools are usually very cheap or free. However to use them effectively will require a commitment of your organization’s TIME (and other resources) … and well know: Time = Money.

5. Rushed. Setting up shop in Social Media is just the beginning. It should take quite some time for you to work through the steps of Listening, Engaging and then, and only then, Contributing. A small dose of PATIENCE early on can pay big dividends.

Thank you for your interest and I very much look forward to our future successful collaboration.

-- Mike Johansson at Fixitology

Related posts:
10 Commandments for Social Media
10 Things To Watch Out For In Social Media
10 Social Media No-Nos

5 Steps Before Jumping Into Social Media

Thinking before you jump will save you from ending up ‘all wet’

It seems everyone can’t wait to jump into Social Media. And for business this may present a real problem.

Think of Social Media as a giant swimming pool. Now if you have a simple goal of just getting wet, then by all means jump in.

But if you have some real goals and want a return on your time in Social Media you might want to have a plan.

Here’s a checklist of 10 Things To Consider Before You Jump into Social Media:

1. Do you have the support of all the stakeholders? Seems simple, but without buy-in from employees all the way up to the CEO and shareholders you may find yourself spending more time explaining and defending rather than engaging in Social Media. If you get commitments of time and money upfront you can focus on getting off to a good start.

2. Do you have clearly defined goals? Social Media can be a lot of different things to a lot of different users, but one thing it can’t be: A miracle worker. Muddled and confused presences in Social Media will look like everyone behind them does not know who they are and why they are there. Do you, for example, know where your target audience hangs out in Social Media? Take the time to do the research and create a plan (with benchmarks to measure results).

3. Do you know what tools will best suit your purpose? Blogs may make sense if you have someone who is a good writer and has the interest in maintaining the effort. Facebook and Twitter presences could help grow the audience or how about LinkedIn profile where you share something about your business and show off your employees and their skills? The point is: Not all tools make sense for all situations.

4. Do you have the knowledge and skill to do this effectively? The good news: Your organization may collectively “know more than it knows.” In other words there may be people on board who know different aspects of Social Media. Great! But if not then you’ll need to hire some help. You also need to consider who will maintain the effort and who will oversee it.

5. Do you understand the risks? These run the gamut from “What happens if we don’t engage in Social Media?” to “What happens if something goes wrong in Social Media - how will we react?” Will your existing policies on electronic communications be adequate to cover employees and others using Social Media tools? Ask lots of questions.

If any of these questions about Social Media efforts give you cause to pause then you may need to turn to a professional – someone who can guide the process for you: from research and planning to training, implementation and measuring success.

Resources:

Peter Kim writing for Mashable.com on The 22 Step Social Media Marketing Plan

Cory Treffiletti writing the blog Online Spin for MediaPost on The Problem with Planning Social Media (No Problem)

Social Media Academy is an education and research institute whose graduates work in many aspects of Social Media

For some national “heavy hitters” in Social Media see ReadWriteWeb’s postSeven Social Media Consultants That Deliver Tangible Value


Previous Posts
10 Commandments for Social Media
5 strategies to get the Boss into Social Media
Social Media Expertise Is Hard To Find
Social Media disasters

Social Media REALLY scares some businesses

It’s the technological boogeyman of the moment. What businesses can do to overcome the fear.

Social Media you’ve really come a long way. You’ve grown from geeky young kid to awkward teenager. And now you’ve really made it: You’re a young adult and you really, really scare a lot of business owners and managers.

Social Media is the technological boogeyman of the moment.

What if my employees give away company secrets? What if they harass someone? What if they waste time?

In an earlier age it these questions were all asked of other “new” technologies: first the telephone and then the personal computer. It seems each age has a piece of technology that frightens business.

A recent survey found businesses fear Social Media. Sophos, a British IT security firm, found that”Two thirds of businesses fear that social networking endangers corporate security”. The basis of this fear is that business owners believe employees will reveal too much personal information and too much company information – thereby endangering the company.

But its more than that. Businesses – at least some of them – actively dislike the idea of Social Media because customers have all the power.

Mary Ellen Slayter writing on SmartBlogs.com explains Why business is hostile to social networking and says Social media makes the top people at any business nervous because it makes them feel vulnerable.

But, really there is nothing to fear. Here’s what businesses need to do:

Review existing company policies: Is there anything in the existing company handbook or the employee policies that needs new language to cover any situation in Social Media? It’s unlikely. Harassment, revealing company secrets and being unprofessional look and sound the same regardless of where they happen.

Reinforce the policies: Make sure everyone who works for you understands that the employee policies apply for all interactions and in all places where they can be perceived to be representing the company.

Train and empower your employees: Encourage your workers to engage in the community – in person and online. Make sure everyone knows that they have the power to help the business by the way they behave in public … and yes, Social media counts as in public. Give them great information about your business and encourage them to help tell your story.

Walk the walk: Many top executives talk about open communications and welcoming feedback … it’s time to live up to that. Encourage employees to communicate with you and be sure to respond. Also: engage with your customers yourself. Start a blog. Sign up for Twitter and or Facebook. You will be surprised how much your customers appreciate the access.

Monitor your brand name and competitors in Social media: This seems obvious, but most companies do not yet understand that conversations about them are happening all the time in the Social Networks, they just aren’t aware of them. Either make kit someone’s job or hire someone to do it for you.

Relax: Really! Now! Would you think twice about your employees using a PC or a telephone. One day you WILL laugh about how you were once so worried about your employees being on Social Media.

5 strategies to get the Boss into Social Media

Getting the CEO to “drink the Kool Aid” and invest in a SoMedia strategy


Using Social Media to sell the idea of Social Media is not a new idea. But here are five ways you can use it to sell the boss on the idea of investing some time and money in a SoMedia strategy:

1. Show him or her how much you can learn about competitors: A few quick searches across LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook on a competitor’s company name, its key executives and its biggest brands will turn up a wealth of information.

Do some of these searches ahead of time and have them saved. Be sure to go first to one or two that reveal something new about the competitor. Explain that your company’s SoMedia efforts would be better because they would happen within company guidelines.

2. Show who in your industry is already there. If there are a lot of other companies in your industry already in SoMedia – “Why aren’t we there too?” If there are few or no other companies already there – “What are we waiting for? We can get way out in front.”

Be ready with questions such as “What’s in it for us?” (More customers and more-engaged customers) and “Will this cost us a lot of money?” (No, but we should re-allocate some of our existing marketing money.”)

3. Point out any existing Social Media expertise in the organization. Someone in accounting is a LinkedIn expert, someone in sales is a Twitter addict and someone in the front office is already blogging. Great. The in-house talent base is already established.

This means the organization is not starting from scratch – always an appealing thought to an unsure executive.

4. Use “What if” questions to pose some possibilities. “What if we start a Facebook fan page?” Or: “What if we start a blog to talk about some of the interesting things we’re doing here?” Perhaps: “What if we try a Twitter account as a way to talk directly to our customers?”

Having plenty of these questions ready will show the boss that you’ve given this some thought and you’re only suggesting baby steps. Yes, eventually you would hope to persuade them that a much bigger effort is needed … up to and including a Social Media plan and a budget to fund it. But starting small can help a nervous boss dip his or her toe in the Social Media water confident that they won’t quickly get dragged under by some underwater leviathan.

5. Try fear-mongering. Ask some of the 15 Questions to Ask a CEO Skeptical About Social Media from Axel Schultze’s excellent post on the CustomerThink Blog.

Questions such as “Do you know … how vulnerable you are?” and “Are you ready if your competitors go after your customers in the social web?” ought to get him or her to sit up straight and think about Social Media.

This last suggestion is said only half in jest. For some bosses the only real motivator will be “What will happen if I don’t do this?”

As Social Media takes more and more of your customers’ time the answer to that question might just be … no customers?

5 Reasons Social Media Matters to Business

1. Customers are increasingly there … in huge numbers
The phenomenal growth in the numbers of people on Social Networks and consuming Social Media can no longer be ignored. The recent Nielsen report on the five fastest Social Media (Global Faces and Networked Places) portals found that:

Twitter is now the fastest growing Social Media app. It grew 1,382 percent in the past year and has more than 7 million people tweeting away.

Facebook has more than 65 million people friending away and grew 228 percent in the past year.

MySpace and its teen-friendly vibe get roughly 75 million unique visitors a month (putting it ahead of Facebook’s 57 million).

LinkedIn and its business-networking members now number more than 33 million.

Wikipedia and other wiki-like information portals now have nearly 4 million contributors signed up to add to the information pool.

If these Social Media destinations have populations rivaling good-sized countries ... countries whose populations grow several hundred percent each year ... don’t you want to do business with these new “countries”?

2. Employees are there … more than you think
These vast populations include many of the people who work for you (and those who wish they worked for you).

According to survey data from 2007 (the most recent available), more than 75 percent of employees at U.S. companies are online, but not doing company business, for part of their business day. Of these, more than a third check in on social networks.

According to a Kiplinger Report story from July 2008 a growing number of U.S. employers have realized the value of social networks and have begun setting up internal networks where employees share ideas, best practices and future plans.

If your employees (present and future) are there shouldn’t you be there?

3. Competitors are there … and talking to your customers
A quick search on Facebook for the term “IBM” finds more than 500 groups dedicated to talking about and talking for IBM. A search for “New York Times” also finds more than 500 groups.

Check Twitter and you find a similar trend: More than 90 Twitter accounts have IBM as part of their name. The New York Times’ main Twitter account touches nearly 400,000 followers and that number is growing quickly.

Try it now: Search for your competitor on Social Media platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook. See what they say about themselves and see what they say about you.

4. Intelligence is there … you will gain important insights
You can simply follow the streams of conversation in Social Media or deploy Social Media monitoring tools such as the one offered by Techrigy to know what people are talking about and whether they have a positive or negative view of your company and its products.

This type of intelligence cannot be had anywhere else. It also allows insight, response and reaction in real time.

5. Money is there … for the making and for the taking
People use Social Media for all kinds of purposes, but in one way, shape or form it’s about sharing information.

This information is a currency that can, and often does, influence spending decisions.

If Social Media is become THE place to share information it is also becoming THE place to learn before buying.

In an age where traditional push media (newspapers, magazines, radio and television) are losing audience at an alarming rate, Social Media and its pull - or sharing - approach is booming as a place for people to connect and get things done. Shouldn’t you and your business be there?